EXPERILVIENTAL STUDY ON DRYING CHARACTERISTICS OF PUMPKIN SEEDS IN. AN INFRARED DRYER

Abstract

In this study, drying and rehydration characteristics of pumpkin seeds have been investigated by using infrared technique. The pumpkin seeds dried at 83, 104, 125, 146 and 167 W infrared power levels. An increase in the infrared power resulted in a significant reduction in the drying time. Six thin-layer drying models were applied to describe the drying kinetics. The results indicated that the Midilli et al. model was the best model to characterize the drying kinetics of pumpkin seeds. The moisture effective diffusivity calculated from the second Fick's law of diffusion ranged from 8.39x10(-1) m(2)/s to 2.55x10(-9) m2/s, and increased with the increase in infrared power. The value of activation energy determined from the slope of the Arrhenius plot, ln(D-eff) versus m/p, was calculated as 4.63 kW/kg.